


Lil Lizard Friend

by katrinawritesthings



Category: SHINee
Genre: Brotp, NB, Nonbinary, Other
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-08-12
Updated: 2016-08-12
Packaged: 2018-10-22 01:11:28
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,078
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/10686702
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/katrinawritesthings/pseuds/katrinawritesthings
Summary: the one where taemin is a shapeshifter but like alizard shapeshifterand jonghyun researches lizards“What?” Jonghyun asks. Taemin wiggles the picture insistently.“This is me,” le says again. “I’m this lizard.”tumblr





	Lil Lizard Friend

“It’s just, hard, you know?” Taemin sighs as le props liz chin up in liz hand. Le stares at the half-melted remains of liz strawberry daiquiri, then turns liz head to the person le’s been talking to for the passed while. They’re a good listener, quiet and open, giving ler little nods and hums of encouragement from under soft pink hair. They’re just sipping some water, le thinks, which le can respect. This desert town they’re in is a hot place.

“Because, like,” le says. “I _like_ being a shapeshifter, you know, like, it’s good and fun and I’m proud of it. And I like being a lizard most of the time. It’s chill. Relaxing. No societal pressures, no crushing capitalistic demands, no one marching into the desert to tell a lizard that it has to have a gender. I can just _live._ It’s good. Kind of scary when there’s a hawk around, but it’s the way of life I’ve chosen, you know? But. Just.” Le pouts as le takes another small sip of liz drink and plucks the cute umbrella out to twirl it in liz fingers. “It kind of sucks to have to rely on my human friend letting me into their house when I wanna change for a day.” Le wants a place le can call lizself’s. Not even anything fancy; maybe just a small little house. It doesn’t even need to have more than two rooms. There’s a little place next to the 7-11 that would be perfect for ler.

“But, I don’t know,” le mumbles. “Jinki’s a good bro. I could do all of the paperwork to get me registered as a double-life shifter in this town so I could be a lizard most of the time and still own a property to come back to, but. I just. Don’t want to deal with it.” Le’s not even registered as a full-time shifter. Sure, if someone comes and traps liz and takes liz home as a pet le can’t sue them or whatever, but what the fuck ever. It’s not hard too break out of a cardboard box in some kid’s bedroom. “I don’t really mind sharing with him, just.” Le shrugs. “I wish I didn’t have to be in human form to do some things. They won’t exactly sell a daiquiri to a lizard,” le grins, lifting liz glass with a little chuckle. Liz listening partner smiles as well and Taemin can just feel the validation building up in ler. They get it.

“Anyway,” le says, standing up from liz bar stool. Le downs the last of liz drink and fumbles in liz wallet for a tip for the bartender. “Thanks for listening,” le tells liz listening partner. “I think I’m gonna go crash at my friend’s place and then go back to my lizard life.” Already liz eyelids feel heavy. Le rubs one with lis palm. Drinking always makes ler sleepy. Le’ll shuffle liz way home and have a nice sleep. Before le can leave, liz listening partner stands up and holds out a hand; le smiles and reaches out to shake it. Liz eyes close in a slow blink as their fingers touch.

When liz eyes open next, le’s on liz back in an unfamiliar room on a couch that le doesn’t recognize.

Le frowns, squinting blearily through the dim light of the room. The windows are closed, but the sun le can see peeking out from under the blinds looks like early afternoon sun. A small lamp is on over liz head to add warm light to the room.

“What the fuck,” le says to lizself. Le sits up, blinking at the soft blanket that falls off of liz shoulders and pushing it all the way off. This isn’t Jinki’s house at all. Le stands up next and groans at the sudden rush to liz head. Oh. Wow. Okay. Maybe le shouldn’t have had that fourth daiquiri last night. Le finds a wall to lean up against until it passes, and groggily lets it lead liz way to another room in search of another person.

Le finds a bathroom instead, which le immediately realizes le needs right now. When le’s done, le washes liz hands, downs a dixie cup of water, and struggles to fix liz black hair in the mirror. Whatever. Good enough. Wandering back out, le continues liz search.

The house is pretty nice; simple, but full of stuff. Kind of cluttered but Taemin likes it that way. There are sketches and diagrams of snakes and turtles framed on the walls, stacks of textbooks on top of full boxes, a cluttered shelf full of binders and stim toys, and a corkboard against the wall with various polaroids and notes tacked around a large dry-erase calendar. Taemin follows the short hallway passed a tiny kitchen until le reaches another door, one that’s left open with light coming through.

Peeking inside cautiously, le scans the bedroom. A single bed, a beam projector shining a slideshow on the wall, little succulents on a shelf, and a desk with someone sitting at it. They’re hunched over a laptop and a textbook, one hand scrolling down the touchpad and the other drawing careless swirly designs in a little pile of baby powder. There are two lamps over them; one is a regular lamp, and one looks like it’s heating a scented candle.

“Oh,” Taemin says out loud, and then winces when the person jumps and turns quickly in their chair. “Sorry,” le says. As le gets a closer look at them, le tilts liz head. They seem… familiar. “Do I… know you? From some--oh,” le says again, louder this time. “You were at the bar.” They were liz listening buddy. Le remembers that cute nose, and those lips when they curve up into a short laugh.

“Uh, yeah,” they say. “Jonghyun.”

“Jonghyun,” Taemin repeats. Right. “I’m Taemin.” Le leans up against the doorway and smiles back. “Did I, um, pass out on you last night?” le asks sheepishly. Le can’t remember anything after le shook their hand. Jonghyun snorts and nods.

“Yeah, you did,” they say,  and Taemin rubs the back of liz neck sheepishly. Whoops. Jonghyun pushes away from their desk and rolls their swivel chair to a mini fridge next to their bed, grabs a water bottle, and rolls over to hand it up to Taemin. “You passed out on me,” they say, “after drunkenly introducing yourself, mumbling a lot of shit I didn’t catch into the most strawberry-smelling drink I have ever experienced, and saying the phrase, and I quote, ‘a lizard shouldn’t have to change who they are to get fucking smashed.’” They do another air quote to finish with a little smirk and Taemin feels the back of liz neck reddening. Frick.

“I, uh,” le says. “I remember that differently.” Much differently. Le cracks open the water to take a deep chug in the hopes of keeping lizself from getting too embarrassed. Jonghyun chuckles softly and scoots themself back to their desk.

“I’m sure you do,” they say. “I heard the word ‘capitalism’ in there last night and I didn’t catch anything around it but it sounded like negative grumbling, so. I agree.” They give ler a thumbs up and a wink. Taemin snorts. Alright then. Good to know even liz drunk self is relatable. Le hesitantly invites lizself further into the room, and when Jonghyun doesn’t stop ler, slides up to hover over their desk. It’s full of the same stuff as the rest of the house: diagrams of reptiles and pages of notes and graphs, different textured stress balls lined up in the back, polaroids and hd printed pictures tacked up on another corkboard behind the laptop.

“What’s all of this?” le asks curiously, picking up a stack of papers to flick through with interest.

“Research,” Jonghyun shrugs. “I’m trying to do a paper on the lizards in this desert. Other reptiles too, but those are more for like, articles and money. These lizards are the ones I care about. Here.” They pick up a stack of pictures and hand them to Taemin, who takes them with interest. Lizards in the desert, huh. “Let me finish up really quick and then I was gonna make some lunch,” Jonghyun tells ler. “You can stay for that or leave if you want.” Taemin hums in reply. Cool. Le rifles lazily through the pictures, noting all of the places le recognizes and the little notes Jonghyun has written in the margins. When le reaches one picture in the middle of the pile, le does a doubletake and then smiles wide.

“Hey,” le grins, holding it up. “That’s me.” Le flips it to show Jonghyun eagerly; Jonghyun frowns, squints at it, blinks up at ler.

“What?” they ask. Taemin wiggles the picture insistently.

“This is me,” le says again. “I’m this lizard.” Le flips it back to look at lizself with a proud little grin. “I look good,” le say. All cute and lazy and shit in the sun, clinging to the branch of liz favorite little tree.

“You--I don’t-- _oh,”_ Jonghyun says heavily, and when Taemin looks at them, their eyes are wide and round with realization. “You’re like, an _actual_ lizard?” they ask. “Like--”

“A shapeshifter, yeah,” Taemin says. “Was I that drunk that I didn’t even explain _that_ right last night?” Holy shit.

“No, I mean, you did, kind of,” Jonghyun says, “but, just. I’m not good at telling real shit from fake shit in the first place, and you were plastered, so I assumed you were just talking nonsense.” They laugh a little sheepishly and Taemin snorts. That’s fair.

“Well,” le says. “This is me,” Le clutches the picture to liz chest fondly. Le’s been being researched. How nice. Le’s like a celebrity. “You know, I thought I recognized you,” le says then. That cute nose is more familiar than just a one time sighting at a bar. “You’re the one that’s always wandering around and poking at us.”

“Uh. Yeah, well,” Jonghyun shrugs. “It’s what I do.” They shrug again and stand up from their desk, pushing things off to the side, brushing the baby powder off into a garbage can, and closing their laptop. “Anyway,” they say. “Want lunch?”

Taemin always wants lunch; le nods and follows Jonghyun to the kitchen eagerly, accepting the chips and microwaved bagel bites and following them again to the living room, where le takes the couch and Jonghyun takes an armchair.

“I love human food,” le groans through a mouth full of cheese. Jonghyun chuckles and shakes their head. Taemin just stuffs a chip into liz mouth. “I like the crickets, too, as a lizard, but still,” le says. Nothing beats crispy crusts and melted goodness.

“I mean, technically, you don’t eat crickets,” Jonghyun says, shrugging in an offhanded way. Taemin frowns, confused.

“Almost all bugs are the same to me,” le says. “But I’m pretty sure crickets are a regular.”

“Mmmm, nope,” Jonghyun says. They shake their head and puff their lips in a little pout. “There are no crickets in this area. Your species eats ants, grasshoppers, termites, larvae, beetles--”

“Fuck beetles,” Taemin grumbles. Beetles are assholes. Jonghyun blinks at ler for a moment, then breathes out a little laugh.

“Anyway,” they say. “You eat other insects around here and start around dawn, and keep going all the way through mid afternoon. And you kinda just sit there and hide, like, with your camouflage, usually higher up, and wait for things to pass by you to strike. And for water, like, in a place like this, if there’s not a lot of water, sometimes you secrete salt from your skin to retain more liquid. And sometimes--”

They keep going; Taemin listens, increasingly fond, as Jonghyun lists off facts and statistics and data. Their eyes are bright and their smile is wide, food all but forgotten as they monologue on. Soon they’re far passed eating habits; they go on to habitat and sleep cycles and territory sizes and even anatomy shit. As they talk they rock back and forth slowly and their fingers play with a bit of stuffing they pulled out of a hole in the arm of their chair. Most of it Taemin already knows, being a literal lizard and all, but sometimes Jonghyun surprises ler with something new. It’s enough to keep ler interested and engaged as le eats liz lunch and when Jonghyun finally comes to a halt, swallowing thickly with eager breaths, Taemin is a little thrown off. Le was expecting more. Le blinks, wipes crumbs off of liz fingers, and sits up straight.

“You really know a lot,” le tells Jonghyun. Jonghyun gives ler a proud shrug and gestures around their room. Before they can say what they meant by that, they notice their untouched food and start with a little hiss. Taemin snorts. They’re probably all cold by now. Jonghyun reaches for it anyway.

“Special interest aided by years of college,” they say, picking up their plate and picking up a bagel bite. They hold it up to their mouth, bite off all of the filling, swallow that, and then pop the empty crust in next. “Guitars and scented candlemaking are special, too, but neither of those pay as well as this, so.” They shrug like it can’t be helped. Taemin shrugs back. True. The burden of capitalism.

“Yeah, well,” le says. “I bet I know something you don’t know.” Le puts liz plate on the coffee table, then flutters out liz napkin so le can put liz feet there too. Le gives Jonghyun a smug little grin with a wiggled eyebrow as Jonghyun gasps softly.

“Tell me,” they breathe, scooting close to the edge of their seat. Taemin smiles even wider.

“One time,” le says, “some high school kids picked me up and put me on their skateboard.”

Jonghyun gasps even louder at that, hands coming up to squish their cheeks. Their smile is as playful as their eyes.

_“Radical,”_ they whisper. Taemin bursts into soft, proud laughter. That’s the best reaction le’s ever gotten.

Things go kind of quiet after that. Taemin is finished with liz food but Jonghyun is still eating their bagel bites in two steps; le taps liz fingers on liz knees for a moment before standing up.

“I’m gonna,” le says, and holds up their plate to mean le’s gonna go wash it. Jonghyun nods their permission and Taemin slinks liz way back to the kitchen and to the sink. When le’s looking for a towel to dry it with, Jonghyun scoots in behind ler and pops their food back into the microwave for a few seconds. Taemin grins, amused, at the little blush on their cheeks. It almost matches their hair.

“So, uh,” le says. “I should go, like, tell my friend I didn’t die of alcohol poisoning.” Le points vaguely behind ler at the front door. “And then go back to being a lizard.” A smile creeps onto liz lips even as le says it. Le can’t wait. Le loves being small and cute.

‘’Oh--uh, yeah, okay,” Jonghyun says. They smile and nod, happy to let Taemin leave like this. Taemin smiles back and holds liz hand out to shake. This time, le doesn’t pass out when their fingers touch. This time le can appreciate the calloused fingertips and soft palms, and le nods when they both let go.

“Well, b--”

“ _Wait,_ wait, fuck--” Jonghyun exclaims loudly. Taemin blinks, startled, and takes a step back. Jonghyun turns back and forth for a moment between Taemin and the doorway, hand lifting to rub over the buzzed sides of their head. “Sorry, sorry, wait,” they breathe. “I forgot, just--”

“Yeah?” Taemin asks. Le doesn’t think le brought anything to the bar that Jonghyun would take off of ler before putting ler to sleep. Jonghyun flutters in place for another moment before taking a deep, steadying breath. Their left hand remains on the back of their head and their right taps quickly against their thigh, but they calm down enough to ask a full question:

“Can I tag you?”

“I--what?” Taemin frowns. _Tag_ ler?

“Like,” Jonghyun says. “Here.” They turn to the doorway and actually walk out this time. They’re rifling through one of their boxes when Taemin follows. “This,” they say, pulling out a smaller box. “It’s a little GPS thing.” Taemin takes it when they hold it out, looking over the description on the package curiously. “I’d just kinda tie it to your tail and that’s it. It’s really small and it’s okay if you accidentally break the wire as long as you don’t crack the case.” Taemin looks up again; they’re lifting themself up and down on their toes, a hopeful look in their eyes. “I know we literally just met, but trying to find lizards out there to study is the hardest part,” they say quietly. “I promise I won’t, like, break into your friend’s home or anything if I see your marker there.”

“Mmm,” Taemin hums. Le doesn’t really see a downside to this. Le’s hung around while Jonghyun was scribbling little notes about the other lizards before and they’re always very gentle and quiet. “Okay, yeah,” le says. Jonghyun’s expression immediately brightens in joy.

“Yeah?” they ask, clapping their hands together lightly. Taemin nods back.

“Yeah,” le says again. “Oh, but--” a thought just occurs to ler and le rubs liz neck. “I can’t just… leave my clothes here,” le says. Technically they’re not even his; they’re Jinki’s. Usually le undresses lizself at Jinki’s and chills naked for the few minutes it takes to put them in the laundry before le shifts into a lizard and scuttles out into the sand. “I can, uh,” le says. “Give you Jinki’s place? So you can tag me there? Or I could come back with clothes that Jinki doesn’t care about.” Le shrugs. “The second one is probably better.” Jinki doesn’t really like strangers.

“Okay, yeah,” Jonghyun says. They look positively giddy and it makes Taemin all fuzzy inside to know that le’s brought someone such happiness. “Um, see you later?”

“Yeah,” Taemin says. “Later.” Le waves again, shakes Jonghyun’s hand again; Jonghyun shows ler to the door and Taemin catches them bouncing happily as it closes behind ler. For once, Taemin doesn’t think le’ll mind waiting a little bit longer to shift back into a lizard.


End file.
